D-day for the Latest Versions of Ubuntu, Slackware, Chakra, and 8 Other Linux Distributions

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Over the last 24 hours, no less than 11 new versions of popular Linux distributions have been released to the public. The most notable releases are Ubuntu 11.04 and Slackware 13.37 (yes, really!), but representing Debian and Arch, there’s also ZevenOS 1.9.9 and Chakra 2011.04.

The majority of the other 7 releases are based on the new version of Ubuntu: Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Mythbuntu, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu Studio, have all been updated, absorbing and expanding upon various features present in Ubuntu 11.04. Absolute 13.2.2, a light-weight version of Slackware, rounds out the releasegasm of the last 24 hours. All of the new distros feature new kernels (2.6.37 or 2.6.38) , Firefox 4, and each distro’s choice of office (LibreOffice, KOffice) and media players (Banshee, Amarok).

Canonical’s Ubuntu 11.04, being the current gem of the populist Linux movement, is today’s talking point — and rightly so! After 7 years of faithful service to the GNOME movement, Ubuntu 11.04 has finally moved towards its own default user interface, Unity. The OS is still underpinned by the GNOME desktop environment, though — you can easily switch back to the GNOME Shell — and it still supports the full array of GTK+ programs.

More than anything else, the switch to Unity represents an ideological shift by Canonical. Unity, which is designed to make better use of available screen space, first made an appearance on the netbook build of Ubuntu 10.10 — and later, due to continued friction between GNOME and Canonical, it was announced that Unity would also replace GNOME Shell on desktop builds. Unity is very much a “touch ready” interface, with big icons, a fancy built-in notifications system, and lots of large “panels” that swoosh around. It doesn’t go quite as far as introducing an “app drawer” like the latest version of GNOME, however.

Unity, coupled with the announcement that the next version of Ubuntu, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot would include support for the cross-platform application framework Qt, strongly suggests that Canonical is redoubling its focus in mobile computing. The growth of the netbook industry might have slowed down — but the smartphone and tablet market, on the other hand, is growing rapidly and show no signs of slowing. While Ubuntu 11.10, which is due out in October, will still support GNOME and GTK+, the addition of Qt means that we might soon see a smartphone or tablet version of Ubuntu with Qt apps that run across every build and form factor.

We’ll have more coverage on the release of Ubuntu 11.04 later today, so stay tuned.

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